Mission Hills Group, one of China’s leading golf and tourism operators, announced that the 2012 Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am has raised a total of US$500,000 for the tournament’s charitable partners—Yao Ming and UNICEF.

The celebrity golf tournament saw players gracing the fairways by day and red carpets by night at the luxury Mission Hills resort, as some of the biggest names from Hollywood and the international sports scene descended on the tropical island of Hainan in southern China for the three day spectacular.

With a guest list that included some of Hollywood’s hottest talent, including Andy Garcia, Adrien Brody, Ryan Reynolds and Minka Kelly teeing off alongside sporting greats such as Yao Ming, Michael Phelps, Ronaldo, Stephen Hendry and Pat Cash, the event lived up to its billing as China’s top entertainment event of the year. Matt Kuchar, Darren Clarke, Michael Campbell, Simon Dyson, Ian Woosnan and Tony Jacklin were just some of the big name players from the professional golf circuit that included no less than four golf-major winners.

Commenting on the donation, former NBA star Yao Ming said, “I’m extremely grateful to Mission Hills and everybody involved with this fantastic event for making this donation. We’ll continue to improve the lives of children both in China and the US and these funds will go directly towards projects we’ve got underway in these countries.”

Judy Chen, Chairman of the Hong Kong Committee for the event’s other charitable partner, UNICEF, added, “We’re delighted to accept this donation from the Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am. UNICEF Hong Kong has enjoyed a long-standing and successful relationship with both celebrities and the world of sport and we hope that through initiatives such as this, we can increase the reach of our work and continue to improve the lives of children in China and around the world.”

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The Godfather actor Andy Garcia commented, “It’s my first time here in Asia and it’s been a very beautiful experience. The hospitality’s been great and we’ve had a great time.”

Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody added, “Here we are on one of the most beautiful golf courses with some of the best golfers in the world. It’s exciting and I’m very grateful to be involved in this charitable event.”

Chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group, Dr. Ken Chu said, “It’s an honor to be able to make this donation to two such worthwhile charitable partners. It’s always been Mission Hills’ objective to use golf as a force for good and we’re extremely appreciative to the players, our commercial partners and all the fans that came to Mission Hills Haikou and made the 2012 World Celebrity Pro-Am such a great success.